In a recent appearance on his weekly public radio broadcast, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne has thrown his support behind two controversial policy proposals that would reshape public education funding across the country: placing a legal cap on the number of Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects the government covers for secondary students, and requiring university students to pay out of pocket to repeat courses they fail.
Browne’s comments came in direct response to a caller during the live program, who put forward the idea that government should only fund up to eight CSEC examinations per student, leaving parents responsible for any extra tests students choose to take beyond that limit. “I think that person is absolutely right,” Browne affirmed during the exchange. “There should be a cap, and that is something that we will consider, as I said eight, if not eight, maybe ten. If you want to do 20, 20-something subjects, I don’t know that the government should be undertaking that liability.”
This stance marks a notable shift from just days earlier, when the administration announced a plan to cover the full cost of all CSEC subjects for students as part of a wider campaign to expand educational access and reduce barriers for low-income learners. The caller who proposed the cap acknowledged that the universal funding initiative was a well-intentioned step forward, but argued that responsible stewardship of public finances demands targeted spending, with students pursuing an unusually high course load covering their own additional costs.
Beyond secondary education funding reform, Browne also backed a separate recommendation for the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus: requiring students who fail a course and need to retake it to cover the full cost of the repeated class. “On the issue of failure, university classes and so on, I do accept that recommendation that they should pay for the resit themselves because they must have skin in the game,” the Prime Minister explained, emphasizing that personal financial investment would encourage greater academic accountability among tertiary learners.
As of the broadcast, Browne did not share a specific timeline for when the government would bring the CSEC funding cap proposal to a vote or finalize a decision, confirming only that the cabinet would review the suggestion in coming months.